1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a horseshoe.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional horseshoe has a shoe body with a hoof shape formed by forging with steel. Recently, various horseshoes designed to reduce their weights have been proposed as replacements of the steel horseshoes. FIG. 9 is perspective view of the horseshoe with its bottom side. The horseshoe has a shoe body 31 including a core 32 of aluminum. The core 32 has a shape matching with a hoof, and a coating layer 33 of a synthetic resin enclosing the entire outer surface of the core 32. A plurality of grooves 35 radially extend in the bottom surface that contacts the surface of a road.
The shoe body 31 is mounted on the horse's hoof with square nails 23 driven into the hoof from the bottom surfaces of the grooves 35. This manual work needs a long experience and a skill of the operator, since each nail 23 should be driven in an accurate position in the groove 35. At the time of replacing a horseshoe, particularly, the nails must be driven in the same positions in the new shoe as the previous ones in the old shoe to thereby drive the nails in the positions of the hoof. Accordingly, this work can be carried out by selected skillful worker.
There is another conventional horseshoe having recesses in the bottom surface of the shoe body. This horseshoe has the recesses arranged near and along the periphery of the shoe body to designate the positions where the nails are to be driven. In this horseshoe, the nails can be driven in the accurate positions. However, the positions for driving the nails are restricted to the peripheral area in this horseshoe. The positions can not be changed in a widthwise direction of the horseshoe.